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Black, White, Animal or Human: ALL Lives Matter

I am usually someone who steers clear of controversy. I don’t talk politics or bash any gender, race, or belief. We judge too much in this world and I don’t believe most of it is our business. With that said, I felt I needed to write this. When it comes to the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases, I have seen my Facebook friends go too far left and right with their thoughts. Yes, they are entitled and I tend to end up somewhere in the middle of all of their views and I still have never vocalized my thoughts to any of them.
So why am I speaking out now? The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag. Yes, I agree black lives DO matter, but I don’t agree with promoting such a segregated statement. I don’t feel these types of posts/hashtags are bringing us anywhere close to equality. In fact, I think it’s setting us back. How about a hashtag like #AllLivesMatter? Isn’t that really what we’re trying to accomplish here?
I know that’s what I want for this world. I’m an advocate of all living organisms. I believe everyone has rights, everyone deserves protection, and we are all intelligent enough to figure out that no race, gender, or religion can be generalized by a few bad examples.
I just want people to stop hating, stop judging, and start showing compassion.

2 Comments on “Black, White, Animal or Human: ALL Lives Matter”

While many of our mutual friends are using the BLACK LIVES MATTER icon, an apparently impatient friend of mine is is now using the new square black & green graphic that says “all lives matter” as her FB icon, saying “of COURSE black lives matter – all lives matter ! Here is my response to her:
Of course they do, W, but that’s not the point, as I hope you understand. I don’t know the source of the graphic, and I’m certainly not commenting on everyone who posts it, but historically statements like this are made by those who deny or dismiss some aspect of oppression.
People criticize feminists and feminism, saying we should care about everyone. There’s a slippery invisible gap in the logic there based on zero-sum thinking, ignorance, and defensiveness : that identifying race or sex-specific injustice reflects a lack of concern for all injustice – which is of course bullshit.
It’s actually the same bullshit homophobes use to accuse lgbt folks of wanting “special rights” when they ask for full citizenship in the eyes of the law, and full protection by the law.
Someone’s reaction to the growing awareness of how enduring and destructive racism is in this country was to make this graphic. It sounds innocent and encompassing out of context, but it was created in a very specific context and aimed at a specific statement of solidarity.
For other people, this has been a time of learning about and recognizing their place in a country that is still so complacent about the radically different interpretations of justice meted out to black Americans.
I encourage anyone interested to check out #crimingwhilewhite
I’ve never seen anything quite like it – these are the voices of people witnessing, some of them for the first time, just how different their lives are because white lives – irrefutably and unequivocally- matter more.

You make a very valid point as well as so many others who I have spoken to regarding this. I definitely understand the use of the Black Lives Matter hashtag, but at the same time, I know some of my friends/family who unfortunately don’t agree with that statement will only see it as reverse racism (which I know is ridiculous)… this idea of ALL LIVES MATTER is really just more of the world I dream of. I hate that we have to remind each other that blacks or hispanics or asians matter. This post was more of my instant reaction to all of the racial wars I see across social media. It is my wish for our world…I know it’s a lofty dream, but I still have hope.